Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GUT'TER, n. [Fr. gouttiere, from goutte, a drop; Sp. and Port. gota, a drop; Sp. gotera, a gutter; from L. gutta, a drop. A gutter is a dropper, that which catches drops.]

1. A channel for water; a hollow piece of timber, or a pipe, for catching and conveying off the water which drops from the eaves of a building.
2. A channel or passage for water; a hollow in the earth for conveying water; and, in popular usage, a channel worn in the earth by a current of water.